Montana Tacomas

Nice! I wish I could do offroad racing of some sort. Just not in the cards dealt.

 

So here's a question for any Montana third gen guys here. What kind of gas mileage are you guys seeing at freeway speeds and the altitude here? Running the 80mph speed limit, I'm getting around 13.5 mpg (corrected for tire size) even before winter gas. In town I'm staying under 11mpg, but that's with my wife driving lots of short trips and cold starts while I'm at work so I'm not too focused on that. The only mods that I've done are pelfrey sliders, soft topper and all pro rack, and BFG K02s in 265/75r16 (1" increase from stock). seems like I hear of a lot of people getting high teens for mileage with heavy bumpers and 33s, but I can only find people who have the elevation or the 80mph speeds, not really anyone with both. I love my truck but the lack of power and crap mileage on the freeway is driving me crazy.

 

That's terrible. The worst I've seen is 8.6 bit that was driving back from Billings with a lot of head wind. I'm regeared on 35s. My average around town 12 maybe 13. Our trucks do terrible on mileage anything above 65. Also most people reporting their mileage aren't driving 80 since their speed limits are a lot slower

 

Yeah, it was kind of shocking when I drove out here the first time. at 70 the truck does awesome, but anything above that it tanks. This summer, I couldn't make it between Pocatello, ID and Boise without my gas light coming on, and that's only ~240mi. I run almost constantly in 4th gear on the freeway here. if there's a tailwind or a slight downhill and I'm not accelerating at all, it will shift up to 5th. I don't think I've seen 6th on the freeway on level ground since I've moved here. Not sure if different gearing or possibly that OVTune would help me, but when I start thinking about those options and not have them be a guaranteed fix, it seems like a lot of money for the risk.

I haven't taken it to the dealer to get it looked at yet, but I think it might be my next step. Just trying to see if it's only me having it to this extreme first.

 

On my gen 2 that's heavy on skinny 33s I get 18 around town in summer - man trans helps. Once I hit highway speeds, all bets are off and I get around 15 driving 70 - 80. Drop 1-2 mpg in winter on all those numbers.

 

Stop driving 80. Simple enough.

Even in my first gens, soon as you go over about 72mph, mpg plummets. I can get almost 20mpg on the highway doing 65-70 with 33s and 500lbs of gear in the back on stock 4.10s. Go any faster...screwed.

That said, i know very little about 3rd gens but one thing i do know is the auto tranny sucks major ass compared to even the 1st gen..which isn't great and is a huge down grade from the 2nd gen auto. Manual helps a lot with those trucks.

 

Gearing does help a lot with getting 5th and 6th back but being on 1in taller than stock I wouldn't advise a regear. Unless you plan on stepping up to at least 285. Like @Blackdawg said though. Can't be doing 80.

 

Yeah, I plan on going to the 255/85 eventually, but that's a ways down the road, so I'll definitely hold off on the gears until then. I should have kept my 4runner haha. the 4.7L V8 in it was awesome to drive. Thanks for the feedback guys. I figured this was the case but wanted to ask around.

 

I keep debating on gears. My stock gears do well on 255/85/16s. I'm not sure if the little bit of gain in torque would be worth the expense. It's really what has held me back from doing lockers - gotta do both at the same time if I regear.

 

regearing is one of the best and most underated mods to do to these trucks with anything bigger than a 32. Plus it'll make your sill 6 speeds 1st gen actually bearable in the rocks if you get into those kind of trails.

 

Yeah. doing both ends isn't in the budget, so I'm still on open diff/ stock gears.

 

If I committed to staying on stock gears, I'd do a TruTrac this summer. Then I'd lock the front in a year or two. I have too many expensive hobbies - hunting, fishing, snowboarding, rafting, TWing... I'm living my own dream, don't think I'm complaining here.

 

Far as im concerned..there is no such thing as a cheap hobby..ever haha

Mine are trucks(3 1st gens..sheesh) photography, audio gear.

Never can have a cheap hobby.

 

Holy crap. That's terrible.

I'm getting 13-14 adjusted on 33s (255/85/16 Load E) with 4.56 gears on a V6 Auto 4.0L. Sliders, all the skids, bumpers, topper, roof rack, snorkel, headers, MAF calibrator....



I will say anything over 70 kills MPGs on Tacomas.

 

Damn. Maybe It would be worth it to give the dealership a call and see what they think. Everyone says the tundra's get horrible gas mileage, but I almost wonder if the V8 would be an improvement for me lol. Would hate to lose the mobility on trails of the Tacoma though.

 

Highly doubt the dealership will do or can do anything for you. How many miles on the truck? Whens the last time you changed the air filter?

 

My wife has a 16 tundra crewmax with a 2 inch lift ranchhand bumper and 33' tires it gets right around 15 average a little better in the summer. Just driving it compared to my Tacoma it seems like it is huge harder to judge where you are in tight spots.

 

You know... I feel really stupid right now. I didn't consider the air filter. I'm at 20k miles. I'm going to pick one up on the way home tonight and see how that helps.

 

i know with mine it'll knock it down almost 3mpgs if its overly dirty.

 

The fires this summer were rough on mine. I change them at least once a year.